Updated at: 21-06-2022 - By: Leo Hall

Innersloth created and released Among Us in 2018 as a multi-player online social deduction game. For several years, the game struggled to gain traction in the West, despite being available worldwide, before suddenly becoming a sensation in 2022.

My goal in writing this review is to assist you make an informed decision about whether or not to play this game.

Among Us is presently available for PC, Android, and iOS devices. –

I’ll be comparing the PC and Android versions in this review to see how they compare.

The Pros

  • The gaming loop is simple but addictive.
  • Quickly find what you’re looking for when you start playing
  • Rules that can be changed and winning circumstances that can be changed
  • Maps with a wide range of options

The Cons

  • With the wrong teammates, the game might be tedious.
  • You can’t earn anything by simply playing the game.
  • Occasionally, the mobile app fails.

Getting Started

Among Us has its own unique characteristics that let it stand out from other social deduction games. There are three maps in the game, each with four to ten players who must fulfill a variety of tasks as a space crew.

Among Us Review - YouTube

The surprise here is that not everyone is as innocent as they appear. There can be one to three players that are given the job of Imposter, and their mission is to eliminate the rest of the crew without being seen.

There is still time for the crew to find the traitors or complete all of their responsibilities before the Imposters overwhelm them. The process of weeding out probable suspects requires a little more finesse, but the formula is straightforward enough that even those with no prior experience in video games can participate.

What Is Gameplay Like?

To begin with, it appears as though Among Us would be a simple task to do. It is imperative that all jobs are completed, and that any questionable conduct is reported. However, in the real world, things might go horribly wrong, especially for the unwitting members of the crew.

For some groups, voting someone out is a quick process, while for others, fighting about what constitutes “sus” behavior consumes the entire game, the Imposters go unnoticed. You’ll often have to defend yourself or risk being wrongfully ejected by your own squad.

Psychological manipulation takes precedence over physical skill in this case. You’ll be given a series of straightforward tasks, each requiring only a single piece of information from you. A console will obscure a piece of your screen while you’re standing motionless, making you exposed to any surrounding Imposters.

As the Imposter, you have a lot more tools at your disposal and no immediate threats to worry about, which makes it the best section of the game. Your chances of winning are almost certainly increased if you can persuade the other members of the team that you are innocent, or even worse, turn them against one another.

As a result, when a body is discovered or the red button is pressed, the player must spend a large amount of time putting out messages in text-based “Emergency Meetings.” This is the place where I’ve had some of the best and worst gaming experiences of my life.

Even if it’s satisfying to work with others to remove a suspected conspirator, it’s not as enjoyable to be ejected, especially when you know you’re innocent.

Game Performance Breakdown

There are more problems with games that demand a constant online connection than those that do not. After taking into account the number of players required and the fact that Among Us allows for cross-platform play, you should expect to encounter hiccups.

As a PC player, I haven’t had any troubles; but, my experience with the mobile version hasn’t been as enjoyable. Trying to check a notice or go to another program would cause the game to crash, even if it was only for a few seconds. Because of this, even if a lobby wasn’t ready, I had to keep the game running in the background.

Hacking the game to uncover the Imposters, bypass Emergency Meetings, and in general to damage the experience for everyone else is also a problem. Innersloth has done an excellent job of introducing precautions to prevent hackers from running amok, which was a much bigger problem during the game’s peak popularity.

As a side note, the mobile version does not allow me to purchase any cosmetic stuff for my character. Errors keep popping up whenever I try to check out, even though I can browse through a variety of headgear and pets. The problem is more likely to be with Google Play than with Among Us itself.

Graphics and Sound Breakdown

This film has a lot to offer in terms of presentation. Sure, it’s not going to take first, second, or even third place in the competition for ‘Best Looking Game.’ Even so, if you’re anything like me and spent the early to mid-2000s playing flash games on sites like Newgrounds and Addictinggames.com, the game’s 2D cartoony style has a certain charm.

Each character is represented by a different color space suit, which adds a good visual element and helps the viewer remember who they are. Even if I like The Skeld’s simple style, the maps are well-designed and contain enough visual flair to keep things intriguing.

It’s amazing how much Among Us does with such a small number of sound cues. When you interact with any of the ship’s stations, you’ll hear the usual beeps and boops. Walking on different types of surfaces will alter the sound of your character’s footfall.

However, the horn that plays at the opening of each match is the sound that has stayed with me the longest and is likely already etched into my brain. When the words “Crewmate” or “Imposter” appear on your screen, this song plays, signaling the start of the game.

What do parents need to know about Among Us?

It’s a lot of fun. Seriously! If you’re having a get-together with extended relatives, you’re in for a real treat. For many parents, this is the first time they’ve had a kid-friendly game they can play without sacrificing their sanity.

The free edition of Among Us collects data (powered by Google) in order to offer up adverts. This is the disclaimer that appears throughout the app installation process.

As of the March 2021 update, there is age verification in Among Us! You must enter your age every time you open the game on a smartphone or Nintendo Switch. During Emergency Meetings, if you are under the age of 18, you must utilize the pre-populated chat language provided by the game! As a means of deterring children from using bad language in chat. However, instead of asking their parents for permission to access free chat and alter their username (which is also locked if they are under 18), kids just fabricate their birthdays and send them as an email from within the game.

Among Us Review

The control here is excellent! Assuming that the players have entered their proper birthdate in the game.

Players in Among Us can communicate with each other from any location. As with any online game, there is the possibility of encountering a stranger. You can see the in-game talking in action in the image to the right. The “Censor Chat” option in the settings does a good job of “****-ing” out bad words. The normal bad words worked fine, but “fricken” got by (lol). With internet strangers in particular, there are additional dangers. The usernames of other players can also be racy, so keep that in mind. That’s something you can’t change.

Among Us is impacted by two digital truths:

  • Predators are ALWAYS in the vicinity of children.
  • There is ALWAYS a problem with the content being exchanged in any online chat setting. I don’t give a damn about how well-designed their syntax checks are.

As a result, unless parents are actively involved in the game’s use, we believe that the app’s recommended age should be 12 and up.

Being the host device for other local network participants, playing online with others, or utilizing a secret invite code from the host device to join them are all ways to participate.

There are in-app purchases for swag in Among Us, so upgrading to remove them is always a good idea! Make sure your child doesn’t buy too many new costumes for their character! [Apple users should follow step 25 to disable in-app purchases.]

Ads for 12+ games (remember, Among Us is classified 9+) appear in the free version of the game, which is not suitable for children. Here are some of the sexualized commercials that Chris from PYE saw while playing the game with his teen daughter. Since the $1.99 ad-free edition of a game is usually always a fantastic idea:

What you need to know about the lingo in our community:

  • A crewmate is a participant.
  • Imposter – One of the “killing” crew members, you’ve been accused of assassinating your coworkers covertly.
  • A “suspect” or “one of the imposters” is what SUS means.
  • A noun, vent/vented, is used as a verb here, although it’s a noun in Among Us. In other words, “he let it all out.” Imposters frequently utilize this tactic to move from room to room in an effort to kill crew members.
  • Abandoned-keyboard mode (AFK) in the PC version.

Playing Among Us on Nintendo Switch or Steam via a PC makes it a little easier to oversee younger players when they begin playing the game. If you’re using a Chromebook, laptop, or PC, make sure it’s in a public area. The Steam version has a price tag of $4.99. There are no advertising on the Nintendo Switch version, which is an added plus.
When the animation for your death makes you chuckle, it’s hard to take getting ganked in the middle of a job for the fifth time too personally.
The minigames that the group will be hurrying through include everything from completing a simple maze to joining different colored wires. To pass, you’ll need to demonstrate calm under pressure, which can be difficult when you’re aware of the danger lurking around every corner. To further generate suspense, most of the minigames fill a considerable amount of the screen. There are times when I find myself yelling, “Come on… come onnn!” even while doing something as simple as downloading a file. A slight tremor on the margins of my monitor may spell disaster, and you can be sure that adept impostors will take advantage of this vulnerability.

For me, playing the impostor is the most enjoyable, and involves a wide range of abilities. Getting away with a heinous act is easier if no one sees it, but if you do get caught, being able to pin the murder on a single other person can spare you from being exiled from the game entirely. There are vents on each map that can be used by imposters, but you must be careful not to appear in two separate rooms in a way that makes it obvious that you took an escape route. If you’re a crew member, you get a kick out of playing detective and trying to figure out where everyone is and who they’ve been with so that you can convince the other crew members to vote them out at each meeting.
You’re playing the other players like you would in a game of poker.
When you guide the impostor or the crew to victory, you’re playing the other players more than anything, just as in poker. If you spend a lot of time with the same folks, you’ll be able to recognize their tells. While some of my pals prefer to remain completely silent if they’re imposters, others will begin yelling and blaming others as soon as the first body is discovered. Finding a killer requires a lot of mental gymnastics, since you have to keep track of who you saw and when, as well as asking the appropriate questions to catch them lying without making it obvious you’re doing so. Make a compelling argument, and you’ll have succeeded. Because even if you are 100 percent certain of the impostor’s identity, it will be of no value if you cannot persuade the other voters of your innocence.

In some of my best impostor rounds, I’ve been able to cruise to victory in a public game by changing my username to “joey07” and pretending that I’m a small kid who doesn’t really grasp the rules. In addition to how I type and what I choose to comment on, I can also make a huge show of having a difficult time traveling around the ship or not knowing how crew activities work. Becoming adept at playing the role of an innocent person is a valuable ability, even if it means pretending you’re innocent yourself. Experimenters, on the other hand, will catch on to your overuse of this tactic. As a result, I often use two cover identities: one that’s blatantly obvious and another that I want my adversaries to recognize as the final one. However, this is not the case. My favorite element of Among Us is the mental gymnastics.

I’ve had some of my best imposter rounds when I’ve acted like a child who doesn’t know the rules.
One reason it works so well is because the default map is so well-balanced: a spaceship named The Skeld. If you don’t keep an eye out for the imposters at the correct time, they’ll be able to slip through the cracks in the smart circular arrangement. Mira HQ and Polus, the other two maps, are too disjointed and dispersed to be of much use to the impostors. Even while that hasn’t been a significant issue for me due to a broad number of game options, such as anonymous voting and validating someone’s role when they’re ejected, it hasn’t been a problem for me. You can also adjust the difficulty depending on how experienced the players in your group are.

There are still some bugs with the software. It can be difficult to find a match because of the browser’s outdated design, which only displays a limited number of lobbies at a time. Finding games that aren’t already full or a long way from being so might be a challenge. If you don’t play as an impostor or are caught dead to rights in the middle of a murder, you can rage-quit the entire round because there is no mechanism for punishing players who do so. Add a quick match button and a disincentivise for quitters, like a time out before you can join another match if you quit too often, would both go a long way.

I Finally Played Among Us | Among Us Review (2020) - YouTube

FAQS:

What game will replace Among Us?

A great Among Us substitute for Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows is Town of Salem. With over 8 million registered users, the game is one of the most popular social deduction strategy games.

Is Among Us safe for my child?

A great approach for youngsters to make new friends is through the social and interactive game Among Us. With its occasional cartoonish violence and scary themes, the Apple Store recommends Among Us for children aged nine or older.
Is it worth playing Among Us?
It’s been fun. My favorite game right now, and one that I play frequently. Because of the violence and blood (one of the imposter’s goals is to kill all of the crew members), I believe it is appropriate for older children. There’s also a chat room, although it’s modifiable.

Conclusion:

Among Us would likely appeal to those who prefer to play video games with their pals rather than alone. In spite of the fact that the game may not demand a great deal of expertise, convincing other players to vote for you requires some mental gymnastics on your part.

Nonetheless, the game isn’t suitable for all players. This game does not have a battle pass or any other reward system, thus the only thing that keeps you playing is the delight of disagreeing with your other crew members. Just make sure you complete your assignments and stick with the group, and you should be good.